The US Department of Agriculture is unwise not to open up vaccination of laying hens against highly contagious flu viruses that already caused the destruction of 50 million birds in Iowa last year. The government’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on Jan. 22 formally updated its preparedness and response plan for avian flu by tweaking indemnity payments, promising to clear infected facilities within 24 hours of a reported sickness, and by pledging to use mass vaccination under certain emergency circumstances.

Sara Monroy Huddleston might be in the position of taking one for the team.

The former Storm Lake City Council member — the first Latina in Iowa to be elected to any office — told me Friday night that she intends to run for state representative as a Democrat against incumbent Gary Worthan, a Storm Lake Republican from a district that comprises Buena Vista and Sac counties.

We have a friend who, we are almost certain, has never attended a caucus. He declares that he will this year. He owns a small business. He has more guns and ammo than Nicaragua. He went years without health insurance because he couldn’t afford it. He is anything but politically correct. He just can’t stand the Clintons. You should hear him talk because we can’t reprint it. So you think he will caucus for Donald Trump, just to blow up the whole schmear.

Developing condos — or something — on the East Lakeshore Drive site we call Sunset Bay should be of the utmost priority to Storm Lake City Hall. The place is an eyesore next door to King’s Pointe. When you see the concrete hulk and stubble you think The City Beautiful just got hit by a bomb. It is awful. It doesn’t appear that much has happened there since the last condo project stopped dead in its tracks during the 2008 credit crash.

Ten turkey-producing complexes in Indiana were shut down and quarantined on Friday as a new strain of avian flu emerged. Some 250,000 birds were destroyed. USDA reports that the problem has been nipped in the bud by rapid response and enhanced biosecurity. Which makes us nervous.

Ted Cruz alleges that Donald Trump carries New York values in his carpet bag. Cruz is a senator from Texas. He likes Lone Star values. They are still remembering the Alamo down there, which was the last stand for the Republic of Texas or whatever it was. New York values money, mainly, and the Yankees, which is a baseball team built around money to make even more money.

I guess I prefer New York values since I am not at all sure whether Santa Anna or Sam Houston was right. I vaguely remember the movie — did Fess Parker play Davey Crockett?

The best choice for America next November would be a Presidential election contest between Hillary Clinton of New York for the Democrats and John Kasich of Ohio for the Republicans. Each has the best resumé from their respective parties with deep political and executive experience. They are the most likely to run a campaign that drives to the center with a reasonable discussion of America’s future.